


Social case

by Boonanza



Category: Rizzoli & Isles
Genre: F/F, Other
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-11-08
Updated: 2014-11-15
Packaged: 2018-02-24 14:31:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 6
Words: 14,147
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2584775
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Boonanza/pseuds/Boonanza
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A new case brings more questions then answers for the BPD. How will the department handle it and how will Jane get along with the new M.E.?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

When she woke up, nothing made sense. Her head felt like it was going to explode, one of her legs was in a weird position and it was dark, completely dark. She was laying in a bed, a bed with rather itchy sheets. So she was sure that she wasn’t laying in her own bed. She lifted her hand to her head and felt the bump, a bump that she didn’t knew how she got and was rather painfull. She feels it up but doesn’t seem to find any broken skin or blood. She moves to swing her legs over the edge of the bed, but she get pulled back by something on her ankle. She reaches for her ankle and feels the chain. Panic gets a grip in her chest. What has happened to her? How did she got here? Why is there a chain on her ankle? She reaches for the chain and pulled it as hard as she could. She immediately regretted that decision as pain bolted through her head because of her action. She lays back down and feels the knot in her chest getting bigger. She tries to recall what happened. But she gets nothing, the only thing she remembers is that she ended her shift at the hospital, after a long and hard day, and walking to her car. But what brought her here? Or better, who? She is so lost in thoughts that she doesn’t hear the footsteps. She freezes when the door flies open and bangs into the wall, which causes another painwave through her head. When the lights are switched on she quickly covers her eyes in a reflex. The panic in her chest get to a new level and she feels her heartbeat picking up. “Ah, I see that you are awake.” She shivered at the sound of his voice. There was no emotion in it, it was an ice cold voice. She moves her hands to get a look at the man. “You had me worried there for a while.” He continued while he entered the room and went to sit down on a chair in the corner. “You were pretty much out of it for the last 6 – 7 hours.” She finally gets a good look at him. And a feeling of recognition goes through her. She has seen him before. But she sees a lot of people in her line of work. “You are probably wondering why you are here, Olivia.” She twitches at hearing her name. “Don’t worry,” he proceeded, “I will tell you why you are here and how you got here. But first,” He stood up and walked out the door, she couldn’t see what he did but she heard him rumble up some stuff and he came back with a plate with food and a glass of water. “I guess you want something to eat and drink.” He put the plate down on the nightstand next to her.”Enjoy.” He said as he moved out of the room and shut the door. She hears him turning some locks on it. She sighs and tries to sink deeper in the bed with the itchy sheets, but it wouldn’t let her. She needed to find a way to get out of here. She looks at the plate and feels her stomach rumble. She reaches for the sandwich and looks what it holds, peanut butter and fluff. Could be worse. She takes a bite and looks around in the room. She really needs to get out of here, get out this mess. She would wait, wait for the perfect opportunity to get out of here. If she ever could get out, that is.

 

* * *

 

 

Jane finally had a seat in the sofa and switched on the tv to search if there was a game on. She pulled the table closer with her foot and put her beer on to it. She sighed, after a hard week with a tough case, her Saturday had been filled with cleaning the mess she called her apartment. At least her week ended good with the closing the case and a bastard who would go behind bars after brutally killing his mother for the money. But not after he send them around running, chasing lead that didn’t matter. So now she had the right to have an evening all to herself with a game on, some beers and a few snacks that have a questionable nutrition value. As she reached for her beer, she hears her phone . She growled as pushed herself on her feet. She could never catch a break when she was on call in the weekend. She stumbled over a lost shoe “And I thought I cleaned a whole freaking day.” She grumbled as she walked over to her phone. “Rizzoli” she answered her phone. As she listens to the detail she got from dispatch she moves to her bedroom and start pulling out some working clothes. “Okay, I’ll be there in 10.”


	2. Chapter 2

Jane flashes her badge at the officer and lifts up the yellow tape to get under it. She pulls her jacket closer to keep out the October evening cold. She hears someone throw up to her left, see turns her head to see where the sound comes from. She discovers her partner almost hugging the tree that he is puking against. “You okay Frost?” She ask as she keeps walking over to the building, she knows to leave him be when he is in that state. Her partner just gives her a thumbs up as a next wave of vomit leaves his body. She feels sorry for him, he has it bad every time he sees a body. She is happy that she doesn’t have a weak stomach. She nods at the officer at the door as she walks into the building. “5th floor Detective, the M.E. just arrived.” He says as she passes him.

She sighs, she hopes the M.E. will go a little faster than she did last week. She pushes the button for the elevator and walks in. Let’s hope that this case, just for once, will be a walk in the park. Maybe the murderer just left his name and number on a post-it, that would be nice. The sound of the elevator happy ping gets her out of perfect world dreaming. She walks out and she sees where she has to be as a tech guy is already checking the door for fingerprints. She enters in the apartment and pulls some gloves from a box on the kitchen counter. She walks to what has to be the bedroom. As she gets in she sees that the M.E. is already examining the body. Jane shakes her head at the view of the medical examiner with perfectly place blond locks in an, what she presumes, overpriced designer dress and 4-inch heels. How she kept walking on those heels and was able to do a decent examination in that outfit she didn’t know. From what she could tell, after only 2 weeks working together, the M.E. is good at her job. But hey, everyone is a step up from Dr. Pike. She just got back after the Hoyt case when she heard he was leaving in 2 weeks. She almost gave a party to celebrate the good news, but her ma shut that idea down before she even got started planning cause it would be ‘unchristian to do that to the doctor’. God she hated that man, with his patronizing tone and his horrible way of working. She only had one remark about the new M.E. so far, the no guessing thing. The doctor made it clear that she never made a guess about something.. _‘You need to let the science do its work Detective, for now I keep my observation that this is a reddish-brown stain.’_ Jane rolled her eyes when she thought about that discussion again. She pulled on the gloves and took a step closer to the bed the victim was lying in.

“So, Dr. Isles, what can you tell me about the body?” Jane said turning to the bed where the victim was lying in. She got a first look at the girl and understood why Frost was re-tasting his dinner for. The girl on the bed was severely beaten, she saw some raw flesh from cuts where the skin was broken. She wondered what they would find under the girls long sleeve shirt and jeans. Jane let her eyes wander to the M.E. before she was too much caught up in the compassion that was building up inside her. She needed to keep her focus.

“Time of death is about 12 hours ago.” The doctor started her statement as she turned around to take some bags to put around the victims hands. “As you can see, she got some severe head trauma’s, bruises and cuts on her face and there is some visible bruising on her neck. “ she points out as she moves the shirt a little so Jane could have a clear view of the neck. “Also her right hand is in a anatomically wrong position, which could indicate that she has broken her radius and ulna. But I will know more after the autopsy.”

“Any guess on cause of death?” Jane asked. The M.E. looked at her and shook her head a little.

“You know I don’t guess, Detective.” Jane smirked at the honest tone with a little annoyance in the doctors voice.

“Well, a girl can try Doctor. “ Jane looks around in the room and sees that everything seemed to be in order. There was nothing thrown around and nothing seemed missing. “Is it safe to say that she wasn’t murdered here?” Jane asks with a little smile, trying to see if she can tempt the M.E. for a little guess.

“That is a statement that I could agree on.” The M.E. answered as she start putting a bag over the left hand of the victim. “Since the cuts on her face are rather large and the fact that facial wounds are cause for a rather big amount of blood loss.” As she pulled out tape to secure the bags, she looks up to the Detective that was still looking around room. “There are no signs of any amount of blood loss found in the apartment and she is pretty clean. So yes, I can agree on the fact that she wasn’t killed here.” Jane turned around to the doctor again.

“So she was killed, cleaned up and brought here so he could put her on the bed.” Jane frowned. The person who killed this girl took a lot of risks. She had a gut feeling that this wasn’t going to be an easy case.

“Jane?!” Jane turned around as she heard her old partner calling out her name. She walked out of the bedroom, into the living area of the apartment.

“I’m here Korsak.” She calls out as she pulls off the gloves and, with lack of a better place, puts them in her back pocket. She sees him enter the apartment, notebook in hand. “Do we know who she is?” She asks looking at him.

“Yes we do, we found her handbag on the kitchen table. Her name is Olivia Harrington, 27. She was an ER-nurse.” He gave the I.D. card to her.

“Who found her?” She asked as she took a better look at the picture. Now she saw how bruised the victim really was in her face. There was not much left from the girl smiling at her in the picture.

“Her best friend, Cameron Dean, came by because he hadn’t heard from her for 3 days.” He said as he flipped through his notebook. “Which was unusual for them, since they call or text at least once a day.” Jane looked up at Korsak. “He knocked a few time and when he didn’t got any response he used his key to wait inside for her cause he thought she was getting some groceries.” Jane frowned at him. “Yeah I know, it’s suspicious,” Korsak said when he picked up her frown. “But he said that he is the closest thing she had to family since her parents died 3 years ago. She has no other relatives.”

“Have the neighbors seen anything?” Jane hoped that they would find a lead there, since she had to wait for the autopsy for anything else. Korsak shook his head.

“Nothing yet, uniforms are finishing up with the last neighbors. Some aren’t home so we have to get back later.” Jane sighed. From the corner of her eyes she saw the M.E. coming out of the room with her bag. Korsak saw the little smile forming on the younger detective’s lips.

“Dr. Isles,” Jane turned to address her appropriately. “When do you plan on doing the autopsy?” The tone in Jane’s was impatient. The doctor stopped in her tracks and turned to her with a little smile.

“I will start with the autopsy as soon as the body is in the morgue. So that will be approximately in an hour.” The doctor gives Korsak and her a little nod and leaves the apartment before they can ask her anything else. Jane sees Korsak shaking his head at her.

“What?” she asks. “It was just a question.” Korsak just sigs as he closes up his notebook.

“You should be nicer to her Jane.” And before Jane could get into defense, he put up a hand to shut her down. “I know you don’t mean anything by it. But it wouldn’t kill you to warm up a little to her an stop giving her grieve about the guessing thing and the fact that she takes her time to do some things.” Jane crossed her arms as she felt that this wasn’t over yet. “I know she lacks some social skills, but you are two women in a man’s world. It couldn’t hurt to bond a little” Jane snorted. “And she does a damn fine job, even if It’s not always as fast as you want it to be” Korsak ends his plea and gives her a fatherly glare.

“And about what should we bond? The dead bodies in her freezer?” Korsak shrugges.

“That could be a good start” He said as he walks out of the apartment. Jane follows him to the elevator and they get in.

“I already got a mother Korsak. You don’t have to lecture me about being nice to people.” Korsak looks to her from the corner of his eyes and she sees him holding in a chuckle. “She takes that subject up from time to time.”

“Well, maybe you should listen to her more then.” He said as the elevator lets out a ping and the doors slide open again. Before Jane could say anything Frost comes up to them.

“You okay ” Korsak said as he watches Frost wipe his mouth with a tissue. Jane saw how Korsak had a little smile playing around his mouth. She knew he was thinking on how he could tease her new partner. She know that teasing is a step up then the painful look he always gave her after she requested a new partner when she got back. Was the Hoyt case really just 8 months ago? God, it felt like another lifetime.

“You okay, Rizzoli” She gets pulled out of her thoughts by Frost.

“Yeah, sorry. I buzzed out.” She was unconsciously rubbing the scars on her hands. “What were you saying?” She saw that Korsak noticed her movements, so she lowers her hands by her sides.

“I was saying that I would stay here to finish up with the neighbors. So you and Korsak could get a start in headquarters” Frost repeated.

“Is good for me. Call me if you find out something new.” She says to Frost as he walks further into the building. She turns to Korsak with a smile. “Need a ride old man?” Korsak snorted at her last statement and pushes her shoulder softly.

“I brought my own ride. See you there Rizzoli.” He says as he walks away. She turns around with a chuckle and walks over to her own car. On her way to the precinct she lets her thoughts wander to what Korsak said about the new M.E. . Maybe he was right, but she would never admit it to him. At least it couldn’t hurt the get better bond with the M.E. They work relatively close, so it could benefit the cases at the same time. Seems like she was going to bond over some dead bodies with the new M.E.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As I promised ;)


	3. Chapter 3

Maura had already changed into her black scrubs and was organizing her equipment for the autopsy when she heard the men bringing in the body of Olivia Harrington. “You can put the body on the middle table please.” She addressed the men turning around. She walked over and accepted the folder the blonde man gave her. While they transferred the body, she looked at the paperwork and signed it off. “Thank you” She said as she handed the folder back to the men.

 

“You’re welcome Dr. Isles.” The men muttered in unison as they rolled out the stretcher out again. She pulled the tray with her supplies on it closer and checked one last time if she had everything for the external examination of the body. She looked if the camera had enough memory and was charged enough. After this last check she pulled a hair band from her wrist and pulled her hair in a loose ponytail.

 

The M.E. closed her eyes for a second and let out a sigh. She looked at the black body bag and reached for the zipper. As she pulled it down the face of the victim became visible. She felt a wave of compassion run through her body as she uncovered the severely beaten face. She knew people said she was cold and had no heart and the nickname ‘Queen of the Dead’ was nothing new to her ,but no one knew what went through her when she started the autopsy. Nobody bothered to ask her anyways, so how could they know. She could live with all the nicknames and talking behind her back, she has been dealing with it since she was a child. Her only concern was the victim and their family. She was the only one who could speak for the death, that was what made her choose this job. To voice what others could not say no more and help to capture the people who did this to them and bring them to justice with the evidence she found. To give closure to the people who lost their loved one. She missed the social skills to interact with families of the victims about their loss and grieve, but she had the science behind her to give them answers to some of the questions they had.

 

“Tell me your story Olivia.” She whispered as she pulled the body bag down completely. She pulled out a pair of gloves and took up the camera to take pictures of the cuts and bruises on the victims face. She swabbed some of the cuts that might have something embedded in them. She saw a white powder above the left eye and took a sample of it. When she was done with that she let her hands wander over the face. She felt a crack in the left cheekbone. She felt nothing else out of the ordinary, but an X-ray would give a decisive answer to that. She took up her folder and wrote down the location of the cuts, the samples she took and the broken cheekbone.

 

She transferred her focus to the hands. She took a pair of scissors of the tray to cut open the tape she used to attach the bags. She took up the camera again to take pictures of the visible defensive wounds on them. “You fought back didn’t you.” Maura whispered. “Let see if there is anything under your fingernails” she continued as she took up a hand to see if anything was under it. She sighed at what she saw. The person who did this didn’t only wash off the face but scrubbed the hands as well. She knew it was going to lead to nothing but she took up the scraper and a little bag to try and see if there was something under it.

 

She just finished the same procedure with the second hand when she heard a knock on the door. She turned to the door to see Detective Rizzoli come in. Maura turned around again and closed her eyes for a second. She was asking to whatever god, saint or other force out there listening to give her some strength to get through the conversation she was about to have. She didn’t dislike the detective, but engaging conversation with her was exhausting most of the times and the sarcasm and jokes that were thrown at her weren’t helping with that. She always received a raised eyebrow and a smirk when she obvious missed a pun and took things too literal. Every time that happened she got confronted with the fact that she had a big lack of social skills, which was probably the reason why she didn’t have any interaction with colleagues except if it was work related. Or why she didn’t have interaction with any other person for that matter. Even her family didn’t spend a lot of time with her, but who could blame them? Who wants to talk with a child that reads all the time and brings in dead animals to dissect. And later on in life she didn’t ask for much attention so she didn’t receive any for that matter.

 

“Dr. Isles?” The husky voice of the Detective brought her back from her thoughts.

 

“Yes, Detective?” She asked as she turned around to face her. She saw the brunette was still standing at the door. She lifted an eyebrow, normally the detective wouldn’t ask for permission to come further in the room. Maura saw that the other woman was rubbing the scars on her hands. She had seen her do that before. She wondered if it was a sign that she was nervous or if her hands caused her pain. She could help her if the detective was suffering pain, but she didn’t dare to ask.

 

“I was wondering if I could observe the autopsy.” She noticed that the brunette saw the lingering look on her hands, because she lowered her hands by her side. Maura lifted her eyes to meet the brown ones that were staring at her. She didn’t see any dishonesty in them, but she could be wrong since she wasn’t the best at reading people. Maybe she should give her the benefit of the doubt and she could use some assistance further on in the process.

 

“Of course Detective” Maura gestured that the tall woman could stand on the other side of the autopsy table. The detective moved toward the other side of the table and took off her jacket, placing it on the table behind her. “I was just finishing up on her hands.” She said as the detective took her place.

 

“Did you find anything under her fingernails? She seems to have a few defensive wounds.” The brunette asked while she bend over to have a closer look at the victims hands.

 

“I scraped under the nails, but I am afraid whoever killed her cleaned up her face also scrubbed up the hands.” She picked up the bags she used for evidence from under the fingernails to write the details on them. “It seems like her killer did a very thorough job cause I didn’t find anything under the nails.” She turned around and put the little bags on a tray for the lab.

 

“Lest hope you find something else, cause we don’t have anything to go from at this point.” As Maura turned around again she saw a frown on the detectives face. She could see the lack of leads was bothered her immensely.

 

“The neighbors haven’t seen anything. And we will have to wait until tomorrow to contact her co-workers and talk to her best friend again.” The detective crossed her arms in front of her chest while she continued, “My gut feeling says that there is something up with this case”

 

“It is not possible to get a feeling from your abdomen. Intestines don’t give signals that you call gut feelings. So that statement is impossible and further more is it wrong to go investigate from feelings, gut or other kind, since those are subjective and could cause harm to the case.” The doctor look up to the woman on the other side of the table. She saw how an eyebrow was raised at her statement. She tried to hold in a sigh that was lingering on the surface. She walked right into that trap.

 

“Oh but I do have gut feelings. And they are usually right as well.” Maura saw a smirk forming on the detectives face. She dropped her focus on the shirt that the victim was wearing. She felt the detectives eyes on her as she had a closer look. She saw nothing out of the ordinary on it. No stains or hairs or anything else for that matter, but she would send it to the lab so it could get a thorough examination. She started opening up the buttons. As she went further down the shirt fell open.

 

“God.” She heard the detective mutter. The doctor looked at the exposed skin and saw why the brunette had stated that. Maura opened up the rest of the buttons and revealed the rest of the upper body.

 

“I am going to need your assistance to mark all of this correct for the case.” The doctor looked up to the other woman and saw a nod as the brown eyes were still locked on the body taking everything in.

 

 

* * *

 

 

Jane was sitting behind her desk with her hands supporting her head. She was going over the autopsy report that the M.E. left on her desk. She glanced over at the clock on the wall and saw that is was 2 PM. She sighed, normally she would be enjoying family dinner, but here she was sitting behind her desk looking into the awful details of the autopsy report. She already knew everything that the external examination had brought up. She had seen it herself the night before. Still she couldn’t take her eyes off the pictures in front of her, but she didn’t really need them to recall it.

 

The front of the upper body was covered in bruises and cuts. The M.E had determined that some of the bruises were already a day or two old. Same could be said about the cuts since some of them were in the early stages of healing. So they were administered over a couple of days. There were also signs of a knuckle-duster of some sort being used to beat the victim up. You could see the impression of it in the bruises and it was cause for the many cuts they had found. The person who did this had punched her so hard in that the skin broke from the impact. Other bruises and cuts came from being thrown against stuff, but the doctor couldn’t determine what it was. Above the left hip there was a recent burn mark from a cigarette being pressed out on the skin. The back of the girl was covered in bruises as well, but there were fresh wounds from being smacked with some sort of leather belt. The belt had ripped some of the flesh away, the M.E told her that to be able to do that, there needed to be quite some force behind it. The raw flesh on her back held some fibers imbedded in them. But they didn’t find any more proof on the upper body, it frustrated Jane enormously that they didn’t find something solid to go from.

 

The legs of the girl told the same story, they were covered in bruises, some of them were darker then the detective had ever seen. And she had seen her fair share of them, on herself or on other victims. On the right ankle the skin showed sign of a chain put on the victim, but they found nothing that could help them determine what it was exactly.

 

After they were done with external examination and wrote everything they had found down, it was already 1 AM. She left the M.E. so she could take up the rest of the procedure. Jane had went to her desk again to try and dig in the past of Olivia Harrington, but, to her frustration she hadn’t found a lot to go from. 

 

During the detective’s search for information the doctor had taken some X-rays. Those showed that the radius and ulna on the right hand were indeed snapped in two. On her left humerus and ulna the M.E. pointed out some cracks which probably got there while the victim was protecting herself from the blows she was getting. The doctor had also confirmed the broken cheekbone, in that same facial X-ray she found some cracks in the skull and around the orbits. Ribs were cracked on both sides.

 

The internal examination pointed out some light internal bleeding from the blows the victim received, but those weren’t the cause of death. The cause of death was strangulation. That was not all what the doctor found out. Olivia Harrington was raped. But it wasn’t a classic raping, it was only anal. There were no sign of semen, the doctor did find traces of a condom being used.

 

Jane didn’t need to be a therapist to know that someone used this girl as a punching bag and took all of their anger out on her. This had signs of a hate crime, but the chain marks and the cigarette burn were out of place. Whoever did this put some thought into it. The victim was held for a couple of days and beaten up during that time. It is not something they did on short notice, there was some planning gone into this.

 

 

* * *

 

 

Jane sighed and leaned back in her chair. She took a last look at the report and closed it. She hoped the lab would find something in the samples that were taken, but she had to wait for the results until Monday late afternoon or evening.

 

She and Korsak went by the hospital this morning. They didn’t get much information since the chief of the department wasn’t in. They were going to send the information over tomorrow. All the colleagues they talked to were startled by the news and they all stated the same. ‘ _She was a lovely girl, a good colleague and a competent nurse’_ , ‘ _No, we don’t know if she had any disagreement with people’_ , and ‘ _Everybody liked her’_. They did found out that there were some complaints filed against her by former patients, but it turns out that every nurse in the ER had a folder filled with those. Most of those complaints never lead to anything or were withdrawn. But they were going to check them out anyways, you never know if someone would hate a nurse enough to take actions against her.

 

Jane was brought back to the present when she heard the sound of heels. She turned around to see the M.E. entering the room. She saw the blonde was exhausted. Jane knew the doctor had stayed the whole night to be finish the autopsy.

 

“Any news?” Jane hated the hope that was imbedded in her voice. She was glad the other woman was too tired to notice it.

 

“Nothing to go from really. I determined the stomach contents.” The doctor said as she handed Jane some papers to put in the autopsy report. “She had a sandwich with peanut butter and some white substance that I can’t place. The main particles in the white substance are high levels of sugar, gelatin and corn syrup. She had her last meal at... Excuse me?” Jane had muttered ‘fluff’ when the doctor was explaining the white substance. The detective cleared her throat.

 

“Fluff, the white substance is fluff.” She looked up from the papers to look into the hazel eyes that were filed with confusion. “Marshmallow?” She saw the doctor processing the information but it was clear to Jane that it still didn’t make sense to her.  “ Peanut butter and fluff sandwich? It’s a real threat. Ma made it for us when we were feeling sad or when me or my brothers had hurt ourselves, after she yelled at us for not being careful enough tho. She always told us it could fix anything.” Jane felt a smile forming as she recalled the memories of her childhood. She saw that the blond still had a rather puzzled look on her face. “You never had a peanut butter and fluff sandwich?” Jane could kick her own butt as she heard the teasing tone in her own voice. She saw the blonde bring down her gaze to the floor. She didn’t even know why that tone was there, it was like a natural thing to do when she was around the doctor. “Sorry, I didn’t mean it like that.” Like what? Jane didn’t even know what she was doing or why she did it for that matter, it was a natural reflex.

 

“Based on the digestion of the food I can say she had her last meal 3 hours before her dead.” The doctor looked up at Jane again. Jane met the hazel eyes and saw hurt and anger in them. Before she could say anything the blonde had turned around and was leaving the room.

 

Jane sighed and buried her face in her hands. Why couldn’t she just be nice to her? And act like a normal person? Why does she always have to be sarcastic? 

 

“Jane?” She heard Korsak calling her name while he was sitting down at his desk. She didn’t hear him come in. “You doing okay?”

 

“Yeah, I’m fine.” Jane said as she took up the paper the M.E. had left her and took up the autopsy report to put them in.

 

“Just saw Dr. Isles at the elevator.” She felt Kosaks eyes on her.

 

“I did my best Korsak! Just drop it!” Jane snapped at Korsak. She turned to him giving him an angry glare with that she hoped she could stop from giving her the plea he was most definitely going to start again. She was a little thrown off when she saw the older man only raising his eyebrows at her.

 

“I was just going to ask you if the Doc found anything interesting about the case.” She saw the smirk that was forming around his lips. She ran a hand through her hair as she grabbed the autopsy report from her desk and walked over to older man’s desk.

 

“Here, maybe you should look into it.” She threw the folder in front of Korsak. “cause I looked at it for the last 2 hours and I can’t seem to find anything more. Maybe a fresh set of eyes can change that.” He looks up to her and he gives her a little nod. Jane gives him a little smile and walks over to the door. “I need a little break. Going to get something to eat.” She feels the eyes of the older man on her back while she leaves the room. She lets out a sigh, she wonders when everyone will stop seeing her as broken. Then she remembers what the therapist said to her during one of the recommended sessions: _You should stop seeing yourself as broken before you can ask anyone else to do the same._


	4. Chapter 4

It was Friday 4 PM and they had nothing. Nothing to go from, nothing to look further into, nothing to give them hope to ever find out who did this to Olivia Harrington. The lab had found nothing out of the ordinary, the white powder on her face came from latex gloves. They didn’t find anything in the swabs the M.E. took from the cuts on the victims face. The fabric that was imbedded in the raw flesh on her back came from her own bed in which she was found. The last of the neighbors they interviewed could not telling anything that could help them. They had spend 3 days on digging through the complaints that were filled against her. They had interviewed a few people who were rather harsh in formulating their complaint but that didn’t lead to anything. Cameron Dean, the victims best friend, had provided them with some names of ex-boyfriends, but they all had alibi’s. The victims boss couldn’t contribute anything useful, they talked to the remaining staff in the ER, but honestly that had been a waste of time. Yesterday they had send out some officers to the neighborhood and let them talk to strangers if there was anything they had noticed, it wasn’t a big surprise that they came back empty handed as well.

Jane buried her face into her hands and let out a sigh. She didn’t know where to go from here.

“You okay Jane?” She knew if she would look up to her old partner she would see concern in his eyes, and behind that there would be the guilt that still was lingering. They never really talked about what happened in that basement. They both kind of avoid it when they would come close to the topic. She knew he still didn’t forgave her for requesting another partner but he still had her back. He always would, but she needs to know that her partner trust her to have his. And after finding her broken on that floor she knew he couldn’t trust her anymore.

“I’m fine Korsak.” She glanced over to Korsak through her fingers and saw that she was right. “I just want us to find a magic lead so we can find the bastard who did this and we can put him behind bars.”

“Want me to find us a magical unicorn at the same time?” She felt a little smile creep up when Frost chipped in. “Maybe if we stroke his magical horn we can free the world from hunger as well” Jane looked up to him and saw him giving her a little smile.

“The only thing the world needs to be freed from at this point would be those dolls you keep on buying.” Jane said pointing at the one that was standing on his desk. She saw Frost gasping and widening his eyes in faked offence.

“It’s called an action figure. And I have you know they are highly collectable.” Jane started a chuckle and she heard Korsak falling in with her. She starts shaking her head as she saw Frost picking up his ‘action figure’ and placing it a little further away from her as if she was going to take it away from him.

“Calm down Frost. She is not going to take it away from you.” Korsak said as he let out a last chuckle.

“You never know.” Frost stated which earned him a eye-roll accompanied with a sigh. Jane opened her mouth to give Frost a quick comment but she didn’t got the change.

“Rizzoli!! My office.” Cavanaugh’s voice ripped through the room. Jane sighed and pushed herself to her feet. She started walking to Cavanaugh’s office, on her way she passed the desk of her all time favorite colleague. She saw he opened his mouth to say something to her as she passed. Before he could pronounce anything she put up her hand to stop him.

“Save it Crowe.” She said as she walked just passed him without giving him another look. “I reached my limit for stupid comments this week and we both know that whatever will come out of that mouth of yours will just push over it.” She heard some chuckles from the other detectives as she entered the office. She saw that Cavanaugh was going through some papers and he didn’t look happy. She wondered what she did wrong this time.

“You called me in here Sir?” Jane took a step closer to his desk so she was facing the man completely. Cavanaugh looked up to her and put away the papers her was going through.

“Yeah, how is the Harrington case coming along?” She saw that the eyes of the man had soften up a little. So she could determine that she was not in trouble at all, but that could all change when she would tell him about the case.

“Well, it’s not going at all, to be honest.” She saw the look on her boss’s face change into a frown. “We got nothing to go from. The autopsy report didn’t bring anything up, the talks with the neighbors were a dead end as was the info we got from her colleagues, we got nothing from her best friend and she didn’t have any boyfriends or other friends that we could talk to. We couldn’t find anything out of the ordinary in her phone records or in her finances.” Jane knew she was rambling all of all the info, or better said lack of info, she had. She ran a frustrating hand through her hair as she finished. “So basically, we got nothing Sir.” She looked over the her boss again and waited for what he was going to say.

“Okay Rizzoli. You can go. You are off call this weekend so you can let this case settle a little.” Cavanaugh said as he stood up and walked over to his filing cabinet and pulled out some papers. “You will get 2 more days next week to work solely on this case. If by then you haven’t found a lead or anything else for that matter, I will assign you a new case if one comes up.” He went to sit behind his desk again and looked up to his star detective. “Can you live with that Rizzoli?” Jane knew she had to agree with this proposition, but deep down she wished he offered her some more time. She knew it was stupid, but it was the first case that wasn’t going to get solved since she got back after Hoyt. It was just had a hard time realizing that. She couldn’t shake the feeling that she was failing at some level.

“Yes, Sir. That is okay with me.” Cavanaugh saw that Jane’s shoulders had dropped a little.

“We can’t solve them all Rizzoli” Jane noticed his voice got softer while he spoke to her. “As much as we want it and even how much work we put into them, sometimes we can’t close them and bring justice for the victim.” She knew to what he was referring and felt a sting of compassion ripple the her. Jane knew he never talked about losing his family and even less about the fact that he still blamed himself for it. She felt herself soften up at the moment.

“ I know Sir, but it’s just so damn frustrating.” Jane looked down at her hands and saw she was rubbing her scars again. She found herself doing this more and more when she was nervous or not at ease. She dropped her hands quickly as she looked back up to the man sitting behind his desk. The young detective saw that he had noticed her movements and she felt a blush creep up her cheeks. She knew he wouldn’t talk about it when he cleared his throat.

“I know Rizzoli. Get out of here and get some rest this weekend.” He said waiving his hand in a gesture that dismissed her. Jane turned around to leave his office. “Oh and Rizzoli.” Jane turned around and saw a little smirk on his face. She was in some trouble after all. “You might consider being a little more thoughtful with Dr. Isles.” Jane couldn’t hold in her sigh.

“Did Korsak talk to you?”

“No, he didn’t. But just to let you know, you are not the only one who works on a Sunday. Now get out of here!” Jane felt busted. She walked over to her desk, ignoring Crowe completely as she passed him and sat down with a sigh. She felt Frost and Korsak looking at her.

“What did Cavanaugh want?” She looked over to Korsak and let out another sigh as she ran a hand through her hair.

“We get 2 days next week to find a good lead. If we don’t find one we will get assigned another case if one comes up.” She heard Frost let out a deep sigh and saw Korsak leaning back in his chair.

“Is Cavanaugh serious about this? We are going to give up that fast?” Jane heard the frustration in Frost’s voice. Both Jane and Korsak looked at him.

“You can’t look at it like that Kid. It’s not like we are going to forget about the case if we don’t find anything.” Jane nodded in agreement with what Korsak was saying, but deep down she was feeling as frustrated as Frost was. She couldn’t get rid of that gut feeling that she was having ever since she was assigned to this case. She let her mind wander all over the case again. From the first moment she saw the body until now, trying to think what she could’ve missed this week.

“Jane?” She looked up to see her brother’s worrying look on her.

“Oh, hey Frankie.” She tries to compose herself again. “I was just thinking about the case we are working on.” She feels his eyes on her trying to read her. “What brings you up here Frankie.” She tries to distract him with her questions and she knows that he noticed. She just hopes that she will get away with it, because she needs to put her own mind in order first before she can explain to anyone else what is going on in her head.

“Ma send me to talk to you.” When she hears the word Ma, Jane can’t do anything else then let out a groan and put her head on her desk in surrender. “Actually its more to remind you about some things” She hears the chuckle in his voice. She tilt her head to the side so she can look at him through her curls.

“Of what exactly do you need to remind me?” Jane said with a growl. She loved her mother, she really did, but the woman could get on Jane’s nerves in no time, which made her act like a teenager again, even when she wasn’t in the same building.

“Well first of all, and this is a direct quote, ‘you need to learn how to pick up your damn phone otherwise she will find a way to get to you to make sure that you will never dodge her calls again’” Brother and sister chuckled at Frankie’s imitation of their mother. “No kidding Jane, she did the whole putting-her-hands-to-her-hips-and-spin-thing.” They shared a knowing look, whenever she did that they both knew she meant business.

“I maybe could pick up once or twice when she calls next week.” Jane says with a sigh as she lifts up her head from her desk and leans back in her chair. “What else do you need to remind me of?” She looks up to her brother and she sees him squirm a little. “Oh god, what is it?” In no time Jane is sitting up in her chair and feels a little panic coming up.

“What? Why do you panic?” Frankie has taking a little step back and now she knows for sure it’s going to be something that she isn’t going to like.

“You were squirming Frankie and you just took a step back.” She narrowed her eyes at him as she pointed out the facts. “I know you better then you think Frankie. You never squirm unless you have to do something you don’t like.” Jane saw that she was right as Frankie lowered his gaze. She felt a little smile creep up her face. God , she knew him so well. “C’mon Frankie, just spill it. I won’t hold it against you.”

“Well, you say that know,” Her brother murmured.

“Oh c’mon Frankie, just spill it!” Jane said while she leaned back into her chair again.

“Well, you need to attend Sunday lunch this weekend.” Jane let out the breath she didn’t knew she was holding and shrugged. That wasn’t too bad, she actually liked going to Sunday lunch at her parents’ house. She heard Frankie clearing his throat, she looked up to him while he took a deep breath and blurred, “And she is picking you up to go shopping tomorrow at 10, so you need to be ready on time.” She felt a shock hit her and she saw fear in Frankie’s eyes as she felt desperation fill her stomach. She hated shopping with a passion, her mother knew this. Why would she force her to do this? She saw that the fear in Frankie’s eyes had been replaced with relief since she wasn’t attacking the messenger yet.

“I’m sorry Jane. I tried to talk her out of it but she wouldn’t listen to me.” She snorted at that statement. When her mother had made up her mind it was impossible to get her to change it.

“It’s fine Frankie.” Jane said mourning the loss of her free Saturday morning. “I will survive.” Although she didn’t know if that was completely true. She had been actively avoiding shopping with her since she was 15, but now and then it seems that she couldn’t dodge the bullet.

“But hey, the good news is that T.J. is going to be there on Sunday.” She smiled at Frankie, that was indeed good news. She loved her nephew and with his 2 years he was at an awesome age as he started exploring everything and they could toss him around already without being afraid of breaking him, so to speak. And best of all, the kid was an awesome buffer when they were around her mother. Frankie and Jane felt relief every time Tommy brought the little one with him cause her mother’s attention was going completely to her first grandchild and they were saved from answering questions that their mother found important.

“So you going to be okay?” Frankie said as he took a step closer to his sister.

“Yeah, I’m going to be fine.” She said while she stood up and took her jacket her chair. “But I need a drink though.” She pulled on her jacket and saw that Frost and Korsak were getting ready as well. “You joining us?”

“No, I can’t, my shift starts in 15 minutes. I came straight up so I would be able to give ma’s message to you” Frankie said while he gave his sister a playful stomp on her shoulder.

“Well thanks for that.” Jane snorted. “You better go and get ready.” She gave him a push in the direction of the door. “And be careful Frankie, I don’t want ma to nag about how it’s my fault that you got hurt on the job.” Jane said while he was walking away, he just lifted his arms to tell her that he heard her. She shook her head and let out a little chuckle. She looked over to Frost and Korsak if they were ready to go. She saw the smirk on Frost’s face and knew he was going to say something about the conversation she just had with her brother.

“Seems like someone is going to have an awesome weekend.” Frost said while he put on his jacket. Jane rolled her eyes and opened up a draw to take out her gun, badge and keys.

“Seems like someone is buying the first 2 rounds.” She fires back at him. She hears Korsak laughing as Frost lifts his hands in innocence. “Take that as a yes.” Jane says as she turns around and start walking to the elevator.

Jane knew Frost was joking and that she was going to hate the most part of her weekend, but maybe it was a good thing that her mother was going to take up a lot of attention, then maybe she could let the Harrington case settle a little and it wouldn’t take over her whole weekend.


	5. Chapter 5

 “What…!?!” Jane’s head shot up from her pillow and looked around to find out what woke her up so suddenly. She tried to focus, but her mind was still a little blurry from sleep or maybe a hangover. Then she heard someone knocking at her door and it wasn’t a soft knock. She looked over to her clock and saw that it was only 8. She groaned, she wasn’t supposed to get up for another hour let alone have company over. She let out a sigh and threw off her cover. She got out of the bed and grabbed the first pair of sweat pants she could find. She struggled for a few seconds but managed to pull them on without falling on her ass. She was just about to walk out of her bedroom when she heard someone opening her front door. Adrenaline hit Jane and she bolted back to her nightstand and grabbed her gun, she took 2 steps toward the other side of her room so she would have a good view of the door. She was about to raise her gun when she heard someone very familiar calling out for her. “Janie, you still in bed?” Jane sighed in defeat.

“Ma! For the love of god, I almost shot you!” Jane walked over to her night stand again to put her gun down. She still felt the adrenaline going through her body. She tried to relax her shoulders to find some relief for tension she had build up there. “I told you before not to come in like that, I am a cop so I own a gun that I know how to use. And that key is for emergencies only! There is no emergency!”

 

“Oh Janie, don’t exaggerate. I was just coming over to make you some breakfast. Frankie told me you have a tough case and we both know what kind of food you eat when you are on a case.”

 

“Snitch” Jane muttered under her breath when she heard the name Frankie. She was going to find a way to make him pay for this weekend she had to endure. She rubbed her temples as she felt the rush of adrenaline leave her body and was being replaced with the familiar fog of a small hangover in her head. Maybe those last 2 shots were a little too much last night. Jane sighed, this was going to be a long day. Her presumption was confirmed as a yell came from her kitchen.

 

“Jane Rizzoli, how many times do I have to tell you to clean out your refrigerator from time to time!” Jane groaned, she had probably seen the vegetables that died last week. “This broccoli is about to walk out of this fridge by itself.”

 

“I know Ma. I just didn’t have time to clean it out since I got the case last weekend.” Jane said as she walked into her kitchen. To her relief she saw that her mother had made coffee. She walked over to her cupboard and pulled out her favorite blue mug and stared filling it with the black liquid gold. She took a sip and looked over to her ma battling with the contents of her fridge. She felt some guilt creep up and sighed “Ma, I will clean it when we get back from shopping.” She emphasized on the last word to express her displeasure about the whole thing.

 

“Yeah, I heard that before,” Her mother said as she looked at Jane. Jane rolled her eyes because she knew what the rest of that sentence was going to be. “I am still waiting for you to clean up your part of the attic.”

 

“I know Ma. But it’s been 5 years, can you just drop that now?” Jane said before she drained the last of her coffee. “I thought I was getting some breakfast?” She said pointing at the bags on the counter. She saw her ma’s glare and gave her a little smile.

 

“I will get to that after I have cleaned this mess!” The older woman said as she pointed to the refrigerator with a look of disgust on her face. “And if you are just going to stand there and be no help at all, you better go take a shower.” Jane rolled her eyes again as she put down her mug. “And stop those eye rolls Jane! I swear, you perfected those before you even could talk! And you learned it to your brothers as well.”

 

“I didn’t learn them how to do that, it’s genetics. It’s a Rizzoli trademark!” She smirked at her as she said it. “You should see pop doing them behind your back!” She saw her mother turn to her with a glare that always managed to put the three Rizzoli siblings back on track. “Guess I should go and take that shower now.” She said as she slipped past her mother with a little chuckle.

 

 

* * *

 

Maura woke up with a nagging feeling in the pit of her stomach. She wasn’t surprised, she had been waking up with this feeling the whole week. Her mind wandering to the Harrington case within second of waking up. She didn’t know why this case occupied her mind every free moment she had. She had been through the file at least once a day since she finished the autopsy. She had hoped the detectives on the case would have found a lead, but she didn’t hear anything.

 

She heard her alarm go off and reached over to shut it off. It was 7 o’clock on a Saturday, she knew most people would call her crazy to get up this early, but it was a habit she adapted when she was away with doctors without borders. But there she never woke in a nice bed with the promise of some more then decent coffee downstairs. She got up from her bed and put on her rope while she walked out of her bedroom. When she entered her kitchen she stooped down and patted Bass’ shell. She had the African spurred tortoise in her possession when he still was able to fit in her hand. He was the only constant company during her life, the only living thing that was around long enough to be called a part of her life. Her parents excluded of course, but still it wasn’t like she had a good bond with them.

 

She walked over to her coffee machine and started pushing the necessary buttons. While she waited for her coffee to be ready she looked into her garden, before she knew it her mind was on the Harrington case again. She was going over the body inch by inch in her mind, seeing the bruises and cuts in her mind. She shook her head and let out a sad sigh, she hoped they would find something that could help this case forward. Her coffee machine let out a beep, she opened one of her cupboards and pulled out a mug. She filled it and leaned against the kitchen counter. She couldn’t get the case out of her head. Maybe she should do some yoga, that might ease her mind a little and then she could do something other than thinking about Olivia Harrington’s beaten up body. She rinsed out her mug and left it in the sink. She walked up to her room to put on something appropriate for her yoga session, she would decide after that what she would do with the rest of her day. Maybe a therapeutic shopping trip was necessary.

 

 

* * *

 

After breakfast her ma had dragged her out of her apartment to go shopping. That was like three hours ago. Three horrible long hours of being dragged into every store that looked appealing to the older woman. Three hours where she had to put on, to her feeling, at least a thousand different pieces of clothing. In that time she only had purchased 2 pairs of jeans and 3 button-up shirts. That were the only items that they had come to an agreement on. Jane was starting to get enough of it and, most importantly, she was getting hungry. But she also knew her ma wouldn’t rest before she had bought at least one dress. So she was going to need something to eat and drink before she could carry on.

 

“Ma, if you insist on pulling me into more stores I am going to need some coffee and something to eat.” She grabbed her ma’s arm and pulled her into a little coffee shop before she could start arguing with her about it. She smirked when she heard a sigh next to her, she just won a round against Angela Rizzoli! She was going to enjoy the small victories today.

 

As they waited in line Jane’s mind wandered to the Harrington case while her ma’s voice was reduced to a background sound. She hadn’t thought about it the whole day, but it seemed that she couldn’t escape the case completely. Her mind flipped through all the cuts and the bruises on the body and again she started to wonder who did this to the victim. The frustration about the lack of lead was creeping up on her again.

 

Jane was so lost in her thoughts that she didn’t see the woman turn around with her coffee order in her hand. The woman for her part hadn’t noticed her as well, her train of thoughts weren’t in the present either. So the coffee the woman was holding and Jane’s shirt collided together in a time span of three seconds. It was rather inevitable.

 

Jane jumped back from the rather warm sensation of coffee on her shirt that was seeping through to her skin. Jane wouldn’t be Jane if that jump wasn’t accompanied by a gasp and some under breath swearing. She grabbed the shirt and tried to keep it as far from her skin as possible, but the damn thing was rather tight so that wasn’t really working out that well. She looked over to the person responsible for her awkward position to offer them a piece of her mind. She didn’t expect to see a frozen doctor Isle with a very surprised expression on her face.

 

Maura’s yoga session had settled her mind a little, but still she wasn’t at ease as she normally was afterwards. She hoped a shower would help settle the rest of her troubled mind. But it hadn’t helped at all. When she walked into her wardrobe she decided that the therapeutic shopping trip wasn’t such a bad idea and besides, a woman could never have enough clothes to choose from. Maybe she could lose her thought in some fashion. But standing in a coffee shop looking at Detective Rizzoli drenched in her coffee and pulling on her shirt to keep the rather hot liquid away from her skin, she was wondering why she decided shopping would be good for her.

 

The two women started at each other, each with their own thoughts. They snapped out of it when Jane’s ma slipped between the both of them with some napkins and tried to dap some of the coffee of her daughter’s shirt like she was 5 years old again.

 

“Ma, it’s okay.” Jane grabbed her ma’s hand and pulled out the napkins and started dapping herself, but she knew it was pointless. But hey, at least she could try to save some face in front of the medical examiner.

 

“Are you burned Janie?” Jane looked up and saw the worried look in her ma’s eyes. She had the same look when she had been in the hospital after the Hoyt case. Jane knew she had to comfort her ma before she was going in overprotective drive on her.

 

“I’m fine ma. It’s a pretty thick fabric.” Jane said as she grabbed her ma’s arm and gave a little squeeze. “It’s all okay.” She saw the panic fade and gave her ma another squeeze before letting her arm go.

 

Maura had watched the mother – daughter interaction in front of her still in a daze. When she snapped out of it she felt a little jealousy creeping up. She wished she had a mother like that. She pushed the feeling away and finally found her voice again.

 

“I am so sorry detective Rizzoli.” The blond took a step sideways so she could look Jane in the eyes again. “I didn’t realize that someone was standing behind me and I was a little lost in my thoughts. I will pay for dry cleaning your clothes.” Brown eyes found hazel ones and Maura hoped that the brunette could see the sincerity in them and if not, that she could at least hear it in her voice.

 

The moment Jane locked eyes with the blond she felt the little anger she had left seeping away. She hadn’t been paying attention to her surroundings as well, so why should she blame the doctor for the same mistake.

 

“Don’t worry about it dr. Isles. These clothes aren’t really dry cleaning material. A washing machine will do the job just fine.” Jane gave the blonde a little smile while she spoke.

 

“You two know each other?” Jane and Maura turned to her their attention to the detective’s mother. It was Maura who spoke first.

 

“Indeed we do Mrs. Rizzoli.” Maura gave the woman a smile. “Jane and I work together at the BPD.”

 

“Please call me Angela dear,” Jane heard her ma say as she extended her hand to the blonde. The doctor took the extended hand and shook it.

 

“Angela” The blond repeated as she was testing out the name. “I am Maura Isles.” She let go of the older woman’s hand. She glanced over to the detective who had resumed pointlessly dapping her shirt during the introduction. As if she felt her look on her, the brunette stopped the dapping and let out a sigh as she looked at her ruined shirt.

 

“Jane has never mentioned you before.” Angela resumed totally forgetting about the spilled coffee on her daughter’s shirt.

 

“Well, I just finished my third week at the department, so there isn’t much to mention yet,” Maura said with a little smile. Her eyes wandered to Jane again, this time Angela looked to her daughter as well, who was looking down at her shirt completely defeated.

 

“Take the bags into the restroom Janie,” the older woman said as she lifted the bags she was carrying in the direction of her daughter. “You can change there.” Jane looked up to her mother and let out a sigh. There was no other option then getting changed. She took over the bags and looked around to find the restrooms. She jumped a little when she felt a warm hand on her arm. She looked up and saw that it belonged to the blonde coffee spiller.

 

“The restrooms are over there,” the ME pointed at a door behind the detective. Jane turned around and got the restroom door in view. She muttered a soft thank you and strode off to the door.

 

When Jane walked out of the restrooms 10 minutes later, she saw her ma and dr. Isles still in conversation. She groaned at the sight. She hoped her ma hadn’t been telling some embarrassing stories about her. God knew the woman had a few of those on each of her kids. When she got closer to the two women she heard something like ‘so we will see you tomorrow then’ and her ma was walking in her direction. She saw a surprised look on the ME’s face at that statement, her mouth moving but nothing was coming out.

 

“Are you coming Janie?” Angela had passed her daughter without giving her another look and left the coffee shop. Jane looked back at the blonde who was still trying to figure out how to produce words.

 

“What did she tell you?” Jane asked the blonde hoping the best but kind of expecting the worse. She saw how the blond shook her head a little and looked up to her instead of the door.

 

“It seems that I am invited to come to your Sunday lunch tomorrow. And I have no idea how it happened.” Jane had been right to expect the worst. Maybe she should’ve thought about hurricane Angela before leaving the doctor and her ma alone together, but to be honest, she had been too occupied with her dirty clothes.

“I’m sorry dr. Isles.” Jane gave her a little smile, in the hopes it would make up a little for leaving her to fend for herself in her ma’s presence. “Ma can be very intense. You don’t have to come, I will explain it to her.” Maura let out a little chuckle at the word intense.

 

“Well, she sure is something else...” Maura said a little pensive, looking back at the door where Angela had just went through after throwing the invitation at her. “But it would be disrespectful to decline the invitation she gave me.” She dropped her gaze a little and saw the bags Jane was holding. “Which one contains the coffee stained clothes?” Maura asked as she looked up to brunette again. “I will take them with me and wash them.” Jane heard a determination it the ME’s voice, so she let out a sigh and held up the bag with the dirty shirt and jeans in. She didn’t feel like arguing with the blond about it, especially since she was going to need the energy to battle her ma about the invitation she extended to the doctor. The blonde took the bag and peeked inside to be sure.

 

“Guess I will see you tomorrow then…” Jane said as she observed the blond as she peeked into the bag.

 

“Guess you will indeed. Will you text me the details?” Maura looked up to meet brown orbs that were very focused on her.

 

“I will.” Jane gave her a little smile as she turned around and walked out of the coffee shop. Now she was going to go find her ma and try not to kill the woman!


	6. Chapter 6

Jane dropped the shopping bags at the door, walked over to her couch and let herself fall face first. She just wanted to disappear from the face of the earth until it was Monday again. Angela had refused to listen to her about the, not so good, relationship she had with dr. Isles or listen to reasons why you can’t just go and invite a stranger and colleague of your daughter to family lunch. Because of her own determination to explain those things to her ma, she is now stuck with two dresses. She had to admit that she didn’t look half bad in them, but still, they required heels, make-up and trying to tame her hair. At some point she thought about starting a tantrum like she was 5 again and had to wear the bow tie in her hair, but she dismissed that idea cause that never worked on her ma. So now she could do nothing else then try to survive lunch tomorrow and try to stay civil to the medical examiner. Her thoughts were stopped by a rumble from her stomach, since she got out of that coffee shop with nothing to eat or to drink it was safe to say she was starving. She pushed herself up and walked over to her kitchen. She opened the fridge and let out a groan. There was nothing in it! Her ma had thrown everything out, but like really everything! The only thing she had left was a bottle of ketchup. She knew for sure that she had some take out Chinese in here from 2 days ago.

 

She was about to slam the door of her fridge in a not so sensitive way, as it was the fridge’s fault that it was empty, when she heard a knock on her door. She closed the fridge and walked over to her front door with a sigh. She wondered who it could be as she reached for the handle and opened the door. In the doorway was Frankie with 2 pizza boxes and 2 six-packs of her favorite beer. She almost smiled at him, but then she remembered she should blame him for the day she just had. She saw that he anticipated her reaction cause she didn’t saw him flinch at the cold glare she was giving him.

 

“I come bearing gifts,” he said as he lifted up his arms with the goods in. He gave her a smile in which he put all the Rizzoli charm he had, but his sister didn’t budge. Jane crossed her arms in front of her chest and raised an eyebrow.

 

“Really Frankie,” she said shaking her head, “you going to try to pull the Rizzoli smile on me? You know I am a Rizzoli myself.”

 

“It was worth a try,” the younger Rizzoli said as he shrugged. “ So are you going to let me in now or do we have to eat cold pizza?”

 

“There better be some meat on those,” She said as she took a step back to let him in. Frankie stepped into the apartment and went straight for the couch. He put the pizza’s and the beer on the table as he was kicking off his shoes. Jane followed his movements with a raised eyebrow.

 

“Feeling at home?” she said as she closed her door and walked over to grab one of the six-packs.

 

“Home is where my sister is.” Frankie responded with a cocky smile as he glanced over to his sister. Jane rolled her eyes as she walked over to her fridge and put the beer in. Jane saw her brother’s eyes fixed on the shopping bags that were still next to the door. “So, do I dare to ask how the shopping trip with ma went?” She groaned as she closed the door of the fridge a little harder then usually. “Take that as a no then.” He said as he sucked in some air and quickly turned around to open one of the pizza boxes. Jane let out a sigh.

 

“It was bearable until dr. Isles spilled her coffee on me and ma couldn’t resist the urge to invite her to tomorrow’s lunch while I was changing in the restrooms,” she spit out with frustration as she walked over to her brother. God, she really needed a beer. She grabbed one and let herself fall next to the younger Rizzoli.

 

“Wait, what?” Frankie looked at his sister with a very confused look. “Dr. Isles as in the chief medical examiner. As in the person that you don’t really like.” Jane could only nod as she took a sip from her beer.

 

“It’s not that I don’t like her Frankie. We are just too different to get along I think.” Jane said after she swallowed her first sip. She saw her brother giving her a little nod in agreement as he took out a slice from the box and took a big bite. “I do my best to be civil towards her and I try to get along, but it’s not easy. It’s like I can’t be nice when she is around. It’s like I have the constant urge to put my foot into my mouth. And before you start nagging Korsak and Cavanaugh already lectured me on being nice to her.”

 

“Did she spill that coffee on you on purpose?” Jane shook her head at his question as she took another sip.

 

“I wasn’t paying attention and she wasn’t either, so it was an accident.” Jane said and she felt her mind go back to what had occupied her mind at that moment: the Harrington case. She saw the beaten face before her again. But her mind didn’t wander further than that when she felt a shove in her side. “What?” She gave her brother a confused look.

 

“I asked if you need to pick her up tomorrow or if she is driving herself?” Jane saw the worried look in his eyes. She knew he wondered where her mind had wandered of to. But she didn’t know how to explain her gut feeling she had about her current case.

 

“She is driving herself.” Jane said as she took her phone out of her pocket. “But that reminds me that I promised her to text the address.” She started typing up her message while she put down her beer. Frankie went for another slice of pizza and grabbed the remote. As Jane read her message through again and pressed the send button, Frankie’s phone let out a beep. “Being popular are we?” she asked giving him a teasing smile as her brother was reaching in his pocket trying not to drop his pizza.

 

“Maybe I am, and who knows, maybe it is a better offer then sitting with you nagging about ma and dr. Isles,” he shot back. He clicked open his phone and sighed. “No such luck. It’s a message from ma. Guess you are stuck with me for the evening.” He said lifting his phone to his sister.

 

“Yeah, who else would be able to stand you tonight,” She shot back as she took his phone from him. She let out a little chuckle when she read the message. “Guess, that someone has a dress code for tomorrow. Do you even own a decent shirt and tie.” That received her an elbow in her side again, but this time with more force and better placed. She put her hand over it to ease the pain a little.

 

“Guess ma was serious when she said that she wanted a doctor in the family.” Frankie said reminding his sister about the conversation they had with their ma a few years back about dating the ‘right’ people.

 

“You think.” She shot back as she took a piece of pizza out of the box and settled back into the couch while her brother flipped through the channels until he found something watchable.

 

* * *

 

 

Maura pushed her front door into the lock and stepped out of her heels. She let out a little sigh as she felt the cold floor under her feet. Shopping did not give her the distraction that she had longed for. Maybe it hadn’t helped that she, quite literally, ran into detective Rizzoli. She walked over to her laundry room and put the bag with the detective’s coffee stained clothes next to her washing machine. She would take care of that later. She wanted to go over the case again, she still felt that she was missing something and that was bugging her to no end.

 

After the autopsy she had wondered if there might be some cases with similar signs of violence. She had signed into a database where every case was described but she didn’t find anything. She entered her study room and grabbed her bag with her files. She sat down behind her desk and pulled her legs underneath her. She laid out the file on her desk and started reading through it again. When she came across the description of the cigarette burn, she sorted through the pile of pictures until she found the right one. It was a close up of the burn, based on the healing process that already had kicked in, it was administrated a day before she had died.

 

She didn’t know how long she stared at it, but this was the aspect that wouldn’t leave her mind. She had seen these kind of burns before, but on people who had through child abuse so it was the scar that was left or on children that had found death through child abuse. The few times she had really seen them on a young child were images that she would never forget. She shook her head as the image of the 5 year old Colin laying on her table came to her mind. It was 3 years ago, and it was the worst case of child abuse she had seen. She ripped her eyes away from the picture of the burn and tried to breathe through the knot that had formed in her stomach. She knew she shouldn’t take her cases home and she was a master in dividing her emotions from her profession. Why else would they give her the nickname ‘Queen of Death’? But with Colin’s case she had never managed to put it aside completely. She had done her work professionally and stood in the witness stand without any show of emotions but, once at home, she had found herself crying for this tiny boy who lost his life on the hand of an abusive father.

 

Her eyes were drawn to the pile of pictures on her desk. The face of Colin faded into Olivia’s. She collected the file and closed it up. Maybe she should talk about it with the detectives on Monday, see what their thoughts were about the case.

 

A beep of her phone brought her back to the present. She reached for it and saw that she received a text from detective Rizzoli. Then she remembered the invitation that was extended to her. She let out a sigh, in these moments she could condemn her proper social education from her mother. She couldn’t remember why she said yes, she wondered if she even had any time to say anything other than yes. The detective had offered her a way out, but she didn’t take it and tomorrow she was paying for that decision.

 

She pushed herself out of her stair and walked to her hallway. She had to be honest, now she had something else to think about then the Harrington case. How was she going to survive a meal in the company of detective Jane Rizzoli. She walked downstairs into her kitchen, and saw an open bottle of wine waiting for her. She opened a cupboard and took out a glass. Maybe some wine would help pondering about that.

 

* * *

 

 

_“You can’t get away Jane.” Jane heard the voice from out of the dark. She tried to move but she couldn’t, her hands were fixated to the floor with scalpels. She looked around but she couldn’t see anything, the room was pitch black. She heard someone come closer, she tried to move her head to the sound but it was as her whole body was not hers to command._

_In a flash the air above her had shifted. She was forced to look into ice blue eyes. She felt like they were piercing through to her soul. The feeling of cold metal against her neck made her shiver. Her head was turned to the side and she felt his breath into her ear._

 

_“I will never let you go Jane.” The blade cuts through her skin and Jane felt a little drop of blood run down her neck. “I will always find you. You can’t hide from me.” As these words are whispered into her ear she feels the scalpel slid through her skin completely._

 

Jane wakes up covered in sweat. She brings her hands to her neck and looks at her fingertips. No blood. It was a dream, she was safe. This had been her mantra ever since she had woken up in the hospital and had her first nightmares. She had one at least once a week. She had talked about it with a psychologist but he couldn’t help her get rid of them completely.

 

She let out a sigh and looked over to her clock, 4 am. She knew that she wouldn’t be able to sleep again. She groaned and kicked of her covers to the end of her bed. This was going to be a very long Sunday.

**Author's Note:**

> So, maybe some of you know the story. I decided to put it out here is as well. Maybe you guys will appreciate it as well. At least I hope you do.  
> I will be posting a few more chapters today.
> 
> Enjoy it! And let me know what you think.


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